PlattForm Advertising provides the marketing services our clients need to support their advertising efforts. Because at the end of the day, the thing that matters most is getting leads for our schools.
By utilizing a combination of tactics, including contact center solutions, remarketing services, targeted surveys and public relations services, our clients can achieve more from their advertising budgets. We provide services including:
PlattForm is committed to providing services and support that are unmatched by other marketing firms. By specializing in the secondary education market, we understand the special marketing needs of the education industry. Learn more about how you can take advantage of our successful and innovative campaigns and services.
Contact Center Campaigns
PlattForm offers contact center campaigns to help our clients generate leads. Using a combination of predictive dialing, tracking/recording technology and a partnership with a bilingual call center, PlattForm offers a number of contact center solutions. These services relieve our clients of the hassle of call center management, while still providing the results of contact center marketing.
Inbound Contact Center
Our inbound contact center focuses on support for television, radio and print advertisements. A school's target audience can respond to ads by calling an 800 number assigned specifically to that school. Our support staff is provided with scripts and documentation to help inform potential leads more about each school's product or service. Sharing unique features creates more interest, allowing us to funnel more information to clients. We record and monitor calls for quality assurance purposes at the client's request, with web-based reporting and monitoring capabilities.
Contact Center Lead Generation
OutReach
PlattForm can also provide clients with outbound contact center solutions for improved lead generation. This service includes:
- Strategic list sourcing and acquisition
- Predictive dialing technology
- Warm-transfer when admissions reps are available
- Appointment-setting when reps are not available
OutReach program costs may vary by region and list availability. This minimizes risk and allows clients to pay for results.
ReConnect
Why do 75 - 90% of the people interested in a particular school choose not to enroll? For the most part, it is timing. They want to improve their lives, but the timing just isn't quite right. We tell our clients: Don't give up. When a school stays in communication until the prospect's circumstances change, it allows that person to take that step and enroll in school. It allows schools to maximize opportunities with each lead.
While the traditional method of communication with old leads has been telephone, more than 20 million Americans have signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. This makes it illegal to call some prospects and can often result in huge fines to any for-profit business that calls people on this list. It is as essential to cleanse all names through the National Do Not Call Registry as it is to find alternative methods of contact. Our clients spent as much as $300 to get that lead, so why not work it until there is a final outlook?
PlattForm's ReConnect program enables clients to re-establish communication with the leads their admissions reps deemed uninterested. The basic ReConnect program allows our call center representatives to contact and attempt to warm-transfer cold leads.
ReConnect's 3-Touch program blends predictive-dialing phone calls and customized email and traditional mail to regenerate old leads legally and effectively. The clients that have PlattForm handle their old leads ensure that the old leads will be worked again and again. We will work with them until the prospect either asks to be removed or to be forwarded to an admissions rep in order to begin the enrollment process.
Our clients' databases are veritable gold mines, and PlattForm's ReConnect program will get the most from them.
New Lead Contact and Transfer
FirstConnect
Internet, direct mail and insert leads are 3 categories where phone representatives have to chase the prospect. Potential customers have already expressed interest, but may be hard to reach. Because of this, they are also categories that are usually given minimal effort and often ignored by outbound phone reps. So why do many schools pay representatives $18-$30 an hour to perform the minimum wage task of dialing out, especially knowing how much they dislike and often avoid that part of their jobs?
For schools that receive a high number of Internet, direct mail or insert leads, the FirstConnect program is an incredible investment in the leads that are rarely worked with effectiveness.
PlattForm's predictive dialing technology allows schools to use reps for what they do best: speak with prospects, either face-to-face or by phone. The predictive dialer does the calling, which means that each rep's time will only be used when a person picks up, has confirmed that he or she can talk at that time, and has been warm-transferred directly to the rep. When the rep receives the lead, it is a live transfer or set appointment, so conversions should be no different than those of TV or newspaper.
We also offer a Live Transfer service to our clients who want to connect with their Internet leads immediately!
Admissions Training
Whether a school is hiring additions to its admissions team or wants to further develop its existing resources, finding high-quality admissions training for admissions team members is essential for success.
Our in-house recruitment and admissions experts are skilled educators and trainers. We have developed dozens of presentations for conferences, seminars, workshops and company training events. Our experience and expertise in admissions, sales, marketing and advertising infuses each client's admissions training program or event with credibility and substance.
Clients have offered praise and energetic reviews of PlattForm training presentations that have increased their admissions success and have had a direct effect on the growth of their businesses.
Training topics include:
- Inside-out Admissions – Admissions, Not Sales
- Enrolling Online Students
- Admissions Telephone Techniques
- Effective Admissions Interviewing Techniques
- Identifying Personality Types and Customizing Your Strategy
- Converting Internet Leads into Internet Starts
Remarketing Campaigns
How many times have schools tossed a list of leads who failed to respond to their marketing efforts the first time? Well, we know they're not alone.
The gold mine that many schools continue to miss out on is their own database of past leads. Through PlattForm's remarketing services, schools are better able to manage their databases in a cost-effective manner and generate starts from old leads.
PlattForm offers clients several remarketing campaign options, including our O-Cycle, E-Cycle or 3-Touch campaigns. O-cycles are one time email marketing pieces for an open house or other special promotion. E-Cycle emails are monthly/bi-monthly pieces designed to help schools connect to prospects who have expressed interest in the past.
Our 3-Touch program takes a more in-depth approach, incorporating direct mail, email and the contact center to target past leads. PlattForm knows that there is a specific strategy involved in every remarketing effort – no two campaigns are alike. In fact, our clients can build 1-, 2- or 3-Touch campaigns based upon their exact needs.
At PlattForm, we know that email marketing can be a dangerous marketing tool if you do not understand spam filtering, and more importantly, CAN-SPAM laws. Schools who attempt their own email marketing campaigns are often blocked, and sometimes even shut down by their own ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Take the risk out of email marketing by letting the experts at PlattForm do it for you. Our remarketing campaigns can give new life to your old leads!
Student Surveys
Connect through student surveys online. Businesses that go farther understand key aspects of their consumers. The difference between a lost lead and a conversion can literally be attributed to one small miscommunication. How can schools make that magical connection to their demographic that gives them that subtle competitive edge? PlattForm knows.
Student surveys online
It's not an easy thing these days to convince people to share specific things about themselves with businesses and people they don't know. But the right student survey can help our clients understand their current and prospective students in useful ways. PlattForm can formulate multifaceted, customized online student surveys to uncover important information about:
- Demographics
- Media habits
- Decision drivers
- Transportation choices
- Levels of technical expertise
We provide our clients with a more accurate direction for their advertising. PlattForm's customized online student surveys provide crucial and valuable insight for any admissions team and precise data for each education department.
Our clients never assume that they have a firm handle on who their students are. Do they really know where leads come from? Are they sure you know what they like and dislike? In virtually every one of the 100-150 schools that utilize student surveys online at www.survey-now.com, we uncovered surprises.
Trends in fashion, music, the workplace and the economy can strongly influence a demographic and alter its aspirations, wishes and motivations. The only way to truly understand the changes and shifts in this information is to ask the right questions. PlattForm knows the right questions to ask. Our student surveys are available at no charge to all of our full-service clients. Contact your Client Services representative to find out more.
Research Programs
At PlattForm, we know that our clients may experience changes in their key demographic over time. Trends in the workplace, economy – even fashion and music – may strongly influence a school's demographic and its habits, motivations and needs. In order to fully assess these changes and shifts in information, our data analysts get real answers to the right questions.
Through in-depth marketing research, we help our clients more fully understand their prospects and how to attract them more cost-effectively. Our highly skilled research analyst team is able to transform raw data into intelligence. This information enables us to make decisions that help our clients identify and acquire the most quality leads. As is evidenced by each hardworking and detail-oriented marketing analyst, jobs that really help our clients are what drive us to keep learning more.
PlattForm's combination of data analytics and marketing research is what distinguishes us from other industry research providers. Our ability to acquire and interpret comprehensive data – then deliver it in a timely and accessible manner – helps us act as a true strategic partner to each of our clients.
Public Relations
PlattForm's award-winning Public Relations department provides assistance to PlattForm and its clients. Working hand-in-hand with colleges, universities and the military, the department's primary goals are to assist schools in improving communication; develop media strategies; and promote student, faculty and alumni relations.
Today, colleges and universities face an increasingly competitive environment and are routinely presented with public relations challenges. PlattForm offers several public relations services, such as media relations and press releases for both local and national media. We also proudly offer the Neighborhood News project – a program that issues press releases announcing the enrollments and graduations of students to corresponding media markets.
PlattForm offers the following Public Relations services:
- Crisis Management
- Traditional PR
- Neighborhood News
PlattForm's PR department has been recognized with a Gold award from the MarCom creative awards competition for its development of comprehensive public relations campaigns for career colleges.
Every company needs PR services at one time or another. Jobs in public relations offer great opportunities for growth – both for PlattForm and our clients. Have you been seeking a career in public relations? Maybe a public relations internship? Check out PlattForm Advertising's careers page for available public relations internships and jobs.
Strategic Partnership
Form a strategic partnership with PlattForm and maximize your marketing budget! Learn how you can benefit from combining multiple services and campaigns into a cohesive campaign that will help you prospect leads, generate interest and achieve results.
Each element of our marketing services is an important piece of promoting your company. We recommend an inclusive package of our services, including:
While each of our marketing services is strong individually, a strategic partnership offers your company many advantages. By using a combination of services, you will have the most effective and comprehensive approach to your marketing efforts. Contact your PlattForm representative for more details!
Case Study - Contact Center Campaigns
Client: An East Coast college with a long history and national reputation for providing career-focused academics, particularly in the fields of business, education, veterinary sciences, health care and the arts.
Challenge: To implement a marketing call campaign that would verify school interest and pre-qualify prospects for a scholarship program. The college had a precise timeframe to complete a marketing program consisting of 354 total hours in four days.
Action: Utilizing our past experience with similar survey campaigns, PlattForm’s Target Admissions Support Services Center constructed a scholarship award “survey” to capture all relevant data required in the qualifying process. We secured and trained knowledgeable temps for assistance throughout the four-day program.
Results: PlattForm provided the client with 1,200 awarded calls, 155 leads for follow-up, and 60 information requests. The college stated that on the average of scholarship awards accepted, they see almost half of these students enroll. If that is accurate, they gained 500 new starts – which is a nearly 50% increase.
Case Study - Admissions Training
Client: A client located in the South.
Challenge: The client was having problems within their online admissions team. The staff was inconsistent in how they worked the inquiries and needed a formal process put in place to manage and convert internet inquiries.
Action: PlattForm developed a complete workflow from the point of lead entry through student application. This included a flow chart outlining the different trigger points within the lead life cycle and lead management in their current CRM system. This also included developing the necessary reporting to manage current staff. Once the life cycle was developed, we started the review of their current admissions staff as it related to actually recruiting students for their online courses. Additional recommendations regarding technology and marketing tactics were outlined to engage the prospective student. The training consisted of actual call scripts, role-playing, and tips on recruiting students and moving them through the process.
Results: The results were an increase in lead-to-start conversions and overall efficiencies.
Case Study - Remarketing Campaigns
Client: 5 specific campuses of a well-known career college with campuses nationwide.
Challenge: The client charged PlattForm with assisting them with generation of qualified leads.
Action: We used a list provided by an online school. This school provides names of leads from the last 15 months (excluding the most recent 3 months) that didn't convert to starts. These are potential students who have already expressed an interest in continuing their education.
Results: The average response rate for the list combined for the 5 campuses more than tripled the average response rate of previous drops.
Case Study - Student Surveys
Client: A small, all-girls private college in North Carolina.
Challenge: The school was having a difficult time understanding why students were either not enrolling at their school or enrolling and then withdrawing from the school. The school enlisted PlattForm's help to survey students and find the reasons why.
Action: PlattForm composed a list of 20 questions through our TeleConnect services to survey 2 separate lists. The first was of students who inquired but did not enroll. The other was of students who enrolled but withdrew from the school. The information generated went into an easy-to-read analysis for the client to review. This helped the school understand why these students may not have continued their education with the school.
Results: After calling 662 records, PlattForm was able to complete 127 surveys for the school. This campaign even resulted in one of the students enrolling back into the school!
Case study - Research Programs
Client: A career and technical school with multiple campus locations.
Challenge: The client’s set-to-show rate had been declining. PlattForm was employed to help them reverse this.
Action: PlattForm performed an analysis of 3 years' worth of lead and start data for each campus location. Based on the analysis, PlattForm recommended reducing the amount of Zip codes accepted by each campus to those that were proven start generators.
Results: Since the implementation of the new Zip codes, set-to-shows have increase by 25%.
Case Study - Public Relations
Client: A Catholic university located in southern Chicago that provides learning to more than 5,200 students every year.
Challenge: In May 2006, the university graduated 500 students from various degree programs. They wanted to send press releases to each graduate’s hometown newspaper announcing the accomplishment. So, to reap the benefits of promoting its graduates' accomplishments in their hometowns, they looked to outside sources and came to PlattForm for help through the Neighborhood News program.
Action: PlattForm utilized a simple spreadsheet of data provided by the school in order to create the releases. Then our PR team gathered the media contacts at major and local papers connected to each graduate's hometown and sent the releases out. Family, friends and neighbors of the students are able to see printed releases and are proud of these students’ accomplishments.
Results: By September 2006, 29 press releases appeared in papers across the Midwest, generating 123,855 media exposures. At a cost of $5 per student, the university paid only $2,500 for the opportunity to announce its students’ accomplishments in more than 400 media outlets across the Midwest.
Case Study - Strategic Partnership
Client: A consortium of 11 private colleges in the state of Nebraska.
Challenge: The group of schools employed PlattForm to help with branding their group of schools and increasing their enrollments.
Action: PlattForm developed an early awareness campaign that targets high school sophomores, juniors and seniors and their families. We developed a direct mail piece to promote all 11 colleges. We sent this piece in the fall and the spring to these families, primarily in the state of Nebraska. PlattForm also used the TeleConnect service to follow up with non-responders of each mailing. In addition, we developed 3 follow-up emails that drove students/parents to fill out an online response form. Lastly, we developed a marketing site with an SEO campaign that featured a financial aid calculator.
Results: For the 5 years that we have done this early awareness campaign, the consortium has seen an 8% increase in their enrollments. They remain pleased with the partnership they have formed with PlattForm.